Fluid ventilated suit



1967 1.. L. CQPELAND 3 3,348,236

FLUID VENTJILAI'ED SUIT Filed June 7, 1965 INVENTOR. LYN N L. COPELAND United States Patent 3,348,236 FLUID VENTILATED SUIT Lynn L. Copeland, 1546 Tulpehocken St, Philadelphia, Pa. 19138 Filed June 7, 1965, Ser. No. 461,634 Claims. or. 2-2

The present invention relates to protective garments and more particularly to a protective garment by which the comfort of the wearer may be controlled in accordance with environmental conditions.

The garment construction of this invention provides a unitary cover for the arms, legs and torso of the wearer. The head and feet extremities may be covered, if desired, by a helmet and foot portions attachable to and detachable from the unitary cover. Basically, the garment of this invention is formed on an assembly of an inner layer of resilient material and a reinforcing layer of pliant fabric which is laminated to the inner resilient layer. The resilient layer is provided with transversely spaced and continuous fluid distribution grooves and certain of these grooves extend longitudinally of the arms between the wrist and neck or shoulder area while others extend longitudinally of the legs and torso between the ankle and the neck or shoulder area. The grooves provide open fluid paths which communicate directly with those body areas of the person wearing the garment and function to distribute fluid to the body area. Cooperative fluid supply ducts are formed on or in the garment outwardly of the grooves and these ducts preferably extend between the wrist and ankle areas along either side of the garment. The grooves and the ducts are manifolded at suitably located zones preferably at the wrists and ankles in order to control the temperature of substantially the entire body of the wearer of the suit or garment.

The above generally described structure provides an arrangement for supplying fluid of desired characteristics to the exterior ducts for passage into the grooves so that the body of a person wearing the garment may be cooled or heated as desired by means of air, gas or liquid. It is an essential feature of the invention that the manifolds for the grooves and ducts be ring like or continuous in order that fluid supplied by the ducts or passageways will be distributed by all of the grooves simultaneously.

The garment of the present invention is suitable for use under high or low temperature conditions where it is necessary to extract heat from the garment or to prevent the loss of heat from the garment. Also, the garment has utility under conditions where the wearer is subjected to dusty or to poisonous environment since such contaminants may be readily removed by the fluid circulation through the garment.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a garment which protects an operator against the surrounding conditions and by which the wearer may be cooled or heated by a continuously moving stream of fluid.

Another object is to provide an improved protective garment which may be worn continuously for long periods in an extremely uncomfortable environment without discomflture to the wearer.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings therein:

FIGURE 1 is a pictorial representation of the garment of the invention in use.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged detail view of FIGURE 1 taken on the area indicated at FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

In FIGURE 1, the garment is indicated at and will snugly enclose the body of the wearer. In FIGURES 2 and 3, the inner resilient layer is indicated at 12 while the reinforcing pliant layer is indicated at 14. In FIG- URES 2 and 3 an exterior layer is indicated at 16 but this layer is optional and if used will preferably be formed of the same material as the inner layer 12. A closed cell sponge rubber has proved quite satisfactory for the inner layer 12, while a pliant fabric of the two-way stretch type has been found satisfactory for the layer 14, particularly, when used with the sponge rubber resilient layer. The layers 12 and 14 will be formed into a laminate in any desired manner and when so formed, the pliant layer 14 functions to prevent tearing of the fluid distribution grooves provided in the inner layer.

The fluid distribution grooves are shown in broken lines indicated at 18 in FIGURE 1 and only portions of the grooves are shown in connection with the legs, torso and arms in the interest of clarity. It will be understood, of course, that the grooves will extend over substantially the entire area of the inner layer 12 in order to attain the ultimate comfort. The fluid supply ducts 20 are shown in full lines, since for the purpose of explaining the invention they are provided on the exterior surface of the garment. As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the ducts 20 may be formed of separate strips of a fluid sealing material and are applied to the garment in fluid sealing relation and in a pattern generally like that shown in FIGURE 1. Also, in FIGURE 1, manifolds indicated at 22 in connection with the wrist zones and at 24 in connection with the ankle zones are shown and are ring like or continuous passageways. From the detail showing in FIGURE 2, it Will be understood that these manifolds or passageways communicate with all the distribution grooves 18 and also with the ducts 24 so that fluid supplied to the ducts 20 will be distributed by the grooves 18 directly to the body of the garment wearer. In FIGURE 2 an aperture 26 is formed in the outer ply 16 to provide communication between the duct 20 and manifold or passageway 22. In FIGURE 1 the ducts 20 are located at either side of the suit and a connecting duct 28 permits fluid to be supplied by means of a single fluid inlet indicated at 28.

With the above described arrangement, fluid admitted at 28 will be fed to the grooves 18 by the manifolds or passageways 22 at the wrists and the manifolds or passageways 24 at the ankles and will then flow to a zone of release which may conveniently be at the neck area 30. To this end and in order to prevent short circuiting of the fluid at the wrist and ankle zones, suitable precaution will be taken such as, a pressure barrier or valve means to prevent fluid escape at these areas or to direct the fluid into the grooves 18.

It will be understood, although not shown, that within the purview of this invention, the head and foot extremities of FIGURE 1 can be suitably covered and temperatures controlled and that valve controls may be suitably arranged at these extremities to insure the proper fluid flow. It will also be understood that, although the zone of fluid release is preferred at the neck area as in the above description, the fluid may be released at other areas as, for example, by the provision of outlet manifolds at the chest or knees, depending upon the body areas it is desired to control.

I claim:

1. A body protective garment formed of a unitary structure having arms, legs and torso portions and shaped to snugly enclose the arms, legs and torso comprising,

(a) an inner resilient fluid impervious layer of material having an outer layer of pliant reinforcing material laminated thereto,

(b) a plurality of fluid distribution grooves formed in said inner layer,

(c) said grooves extending longitudinally of the arms,

legs and torso portions and spaced thereabout,

(d) fluid supply duct means spaced from the grooves,

(c) said fluid supply duct means extending longitudinally of the tarso portion and also extending longitudinally along at least portions of the arms and the legs,

(f) each arm portion and each leg portion of the garment having a ring-like continuous passageway communicating between the fluid supply duct means and the distribution grooves and (g) means for supplying fluid to the fluid supply duct means for passage through the distribution grooves for controlling the temperature of the body.

2. A body protective garment formed of a unitary structure having arms, legs and torso portions and shaped to snugly enclose the arms, legs and torso comprising,

(a) an inner resilient fluid impervious layer of material having an outer layer of pliant reinforcing material laminated thereto,

(b) a plurality of fluid distribution grooves formed in said inner layer,

(c) certain of said grooves extending longitudinally of and spaced about each arm portion and certain others of said grooves extending longitudinally of and spaced about the legs and torso portions,

(d) a first continuous fluid supply duct and a second continuous fluid supply duct spaced from the grooves,

(e) said first duct extending longitudinally of the torso portion and at least a portion of the arm and leg portions at one side of the garment and said second duct extending longitudinally of the torso portion and at least a portion of arm and the leg portions at the other side of the garment,

(f) each arm portion and each leg portion of the garment having a ring-like continuous passageway communicating between the supply ducts and the distribution grooves and (g) means for supplying fluid to the ducts for passage through the distribution grooves for controlling the temperature of the body.

3. A body protective garment formed of a unitary structure having arms, legs and torso portions and shaped to snugly enclose the arms, legs and torso of a wearer comprising,

(a) an inner resilient fluid impervious layer of sponge rubber material having an outer layer of pliant reinforcing two-way stretch material laminated thereto,

(b) a plurality of fluid distribution grooves formed in said inner layer,

() said grooves extending longitudinally of the arms,

legs and torso portions and spaced thereabout,

(d) fluid supply duct means spaced from the grooves,

(e) said fluid supply duct means extending longitudinally of the torso portion and also extending longitudinally along at least portions of the arms and legs,

(f) each arm portion and each leg portion of the garment having a ring-like continuous passageway communicating between the fluid supply duct means and the distribution grooves and (g) means for supplying fluid to the fluid supply duct means for passage through the distribution grooves for controlling the temperature of the body.

4. A body protective garment formed of a unitary structure having arms, legs and torso portions and shaped to snugly enclose the arms, legs and torso of a wearer comprising,

(a) an inner resilient fluid impervious layer of material having an outer layer of pliant reinforcing material laminated thereto,

(b) a plurality of fluid distribution grooves formed in said inner layer,

(c) certain of said grooves extending longitudinally of and spaced about each arm portion and certain others of said grooves extending longitudinally of and spaced about the legs and torso portions,

((1) a first continuous fluid supply duct and a second continuous fluid supply duct formed on the exterior surface of said reinforcing layer,

(e) said first duct extending longitudinally of the torso portion and the arm and the leg portions at one side of garment and said second duct extending longitudinally of the torso portion and the arm and leg portions at other side of the garment,

(f) each arm portion and each leg portion of the garment having a ring-like continuous passageway at the wrist and ankle area respectively communicating between the supply ducts and the distribution grooves and (g) means for supplying fluid to the ducts for passage through the distribution grooves for controlling the temperature of the body of the wearer.

5. A body protective garment formed of a unitary structure having arms, legs and torso portions and shaped to snugly enclose the arms, legs and torso of a wearer comprising,

(a) an inner resilient fluid impervious layer of sponge rubber material having an outer layer of pliant reinforcing two-way stretch material laminated thereto,

(b) a plurality of fluid distribution grooves formed in said inner layer,

(c) certain of said grooves extending longitudinally of each arm portion toward the neck area and certain others of said grooves extending longitudinally of the legs and torso portions toward the neck area,

(d) a first continuous fluid supply duct and a second continuous fluid supply duct formed on the exterior surface of said reinforcing layer,

(e) said first duct extending longitudinally of the torso portion and the arm and the leg portions at one side of garment and said second duct extending longitudinally of the torso portion and the arm and leg portions at the other side of the garment,

(f) each arm portion and each leg portion of the gar ment having a ring-like continuous passageway at the wrist and ankle area respectively forming manifolds and communicating between the supply ducts and the distribution grooves and (g) means for supplying fluid to the ducts for passage from the manifolds through the distribution grooves through said neck area whereby the temperature of the body may be suitably controlled in accordance with environmental conditions.

No references cited.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G! .KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner, 

1. A BODY PROTECTIVE GARMENT FORMED OF A UNITARY STRUCTURE HAVING ARMS, LEGS AND TORSO PORTIONS AND SHAPED TO SNUGLY ENCLOSE THE ARMS, LEGS AND TORSO COMPRISING, (A) AN INNER RESILIENT FLUID IMPERVIOUS LAYER OF MATERAIL HAVING AN OUTER LAYER OF PLIANT REINFORCING MATERAIL LAMINATED THERETO, (B) A PLURALITY OF FLUID DISTRIBUTION GROOVES FOMED IN SAID INNER LAYER, (C) SAID GROOVES EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF THE ARMS, LEGS AND TORSO PORTIONS AND SPACED THEREABOUT, (D) FLUID SUPPLY DUCT MEANS SPACED FROM THE GROOVES, (E) SAID FLUID SUPPLY DUCT MEANS EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF THE TARSO PORTION AND ALSO EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY ALONG AT LEAST PORTION OF THE ARMS AND THE LEGS, (F) EACH ARM PORTION AND EACH LEG PORTION OF THE GARMENT HAVING A RING-LIKE CONTINUOUS PASSAGEWAY COMMUNICATING BETWEEN THE FLUID SUPPLY DUCT MEANS AND THE DISTRIBUTION GROOVES AND (G) MEANS FOR SUPPLYING FLUID TO THE FLUID SUPPLY DUCT MEAND FOR PASSAGE THROUGH THE DISTRIBUTION GROOVES FOR CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE BODY. 